A Place to Stay
by veritygrey
Summary: Sometimes, it's about the place you feel safest. Even when it's not.
1. Hector

A Place to Stay

A the Fast and the Furious story

Disclaimer: I bought the DVD...

Chapter 1

* * *

Harry's is quiet when Hector walks in, like most Mondays. The few people in the store are looking, rather than buying. Harry waves at him from the office, phone seemingly attached to his ear. There's a white guy serving another customer, neither of them familiar until Harry's guy turns to point out some part. Spilner _(O'Conner)_ is paler than the last time Hector saw him, pale even for a _snowman_. There are deep shadows under his eyes, and he's thinner. He's tired too.

"He came in last week. Needed a place to stay."

Harry's leaning on the counter, watching Hector watch O'Conner.

"He's a _fucking_ cop Harry! How'd you hire him, after what he did to Dom and the others?" Hector glared at O'Conner and at Harry.

"He's not a cop any more. They busted him out cause he gave Dom his car. The Feds wanted to send him to Lompoc for letting Dom go. "

Hector stared at him. It's been nearly a year since Race Wars and while there were a lot of rumours about what happened, enough people had seen Dom's car for Hector to know someone had had to have helped him. Hadn't expected it to be the cop.

"So what's he doing back? Got to know he there's people gunning for him."

"Doctors are better out here." Harry sighed, "You want anything, better get it now. I'm closing up tomorrow. Docs won't discharge him without a lift. The chemo screws with you almost worst than the cancer."

* * *

End.

Please forgive the lack of cars. I know how to change a tyre, top up the water, check the oil and that auto's are easier to drive than manuals. Oh, and I can read street maps.


	2. Monica

A Place to Stay.

Disclaimer: see previous chapter.

Chapter Two.

* * *

He doesn't recognize her and to Monica, that's ok. She dresses conservatively for work, her hair more flamboyant; an advertisement for her own skills. Her clients like it that way. They're mostly older, regulars. But this client is different. He's a walk-in, probably just picked the first place he saw offering men's cuts. The only ex-cop who thinks the neighbourhood's a better option than anywhere else.

"It's gonna fall out anyway. You saw the others."

"Those guys are all on their third or fourth round. No fun being bald kid."

"It's chemotherapy Harry. Not meant to be fun."

It's probably better that he doesn't recognize her as the girl in the mini-skirt, offering up a threesome as first prize to a street racer.

* * *

End


	3. Suki, Roman, Harry

A Place to Stay.

Disclaimer: see first chapter.

Chapter Three

* * *

It's Suki who finds him, unconscious on the kitchen floor. It's Suki who holds his hand in the ambulance. And it's Suki who tells the ER doctor about the bruising, still visible weeks after the fact, the lengthy nosebleeds, the nausea that has him skipping meals, the weight loss the nausea doesn't quite cover, how he's given up driving after passing out behind the wheel. How she thinks it's cancer, but had convinced herself it wasn't because there's no way Brian was gonna end like her cousin; dead before he was old enough to drink.

The doctor refers them to Oncology, who refers them to a specialist, who agrees that Brian cam travel, looks through his little black book of cancer doctors and refers them to a guy in LA. The whole thing takes three weeks. Rome goes on the plane with him, arrange the first meet with Harry and sits in reception, reading old magazine while he sees the new doctor. Afterwards, Brian tells him to go home. Roman looks at him, face serious, and books a flight back to Miami.


	4. Tanner

Disclaimer: first chapter

Chapter 4: Tanner

* * *

Tanner hadn't really expected to see Brian O'Connor in LA again, not on the same side of an arrest warrant at least. He is thinner than Tanner remembers and pale, even against the white hospital sheets. The IV's and constant beeping of the monitors don't exactly give the impression of good health either. Tanner sits in the only chair in the room, wincing as it _screeks_ a few inches across the floor. Hospital chairs live down to their reputations, bed side ones doubly so. The kid (always a kid in Tanner's eyes, too young for the jobs he took) stirs at the noise, squinting up at his visitor.  
"Sarg?"  
"Yeah kid, I'm here. Go back to sleep." O'Connor nods, already halfway gone and mumbles something, falling back into the exhausted sleep of the very ill.


End file.
